Latest news with #TradeWinds
Qatar Tribune
11 hours ago
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
US port fee fails to deter major shippers from Chinese shipyards
Agencies While a US port fee targeting ships linked to China has made some vessel buyers hesitant, major shipping companies – including Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world's largest – are opting to continue working with Chinese shipyards, saying their competitiveness cannot be easily matched in the short term. Despite the United States' determination to challenge China's dominance in global shipbuilding, MSC senior vice-president Marie-Caroline Laurent told the Nor-Shipping Forum in Oslo this week that the port fee would not be a barrier to ordering more vessels from China, the shipping news outlet TradeWinds reported. She said it was good to see the US trying to revive shipbuilding activity, but 'we will need new vessels with the energy transition'.'Those ships today are built to a large extent in China,' Laurent said. 'They have the competence, they have the capability, and this is where today we will still continue building our vessels.' The International Maritime Organisation wants the global shipping industry to achieve net-zero emissions in the next 25 years or so. In response, companies are increasingly investing in decarbonisation technologies – such as green fuels – leading to a notable rise in new ship orders in recent years. Laurent said any revival of America's shipbuilding sector would not happen overnight, and realising that ambition would require state subsidies and the retention of some strategic assets. 'So this is an interesting conversation to have, also with the US administration,' she said. 'Whether that will change our overall strategy in terms of shipbuilding – probably not at this stage.' MSC, which has its headquarters in Geneva, has vessels under construction at several major Chinese shipyards, including Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard, Guangzhou Shipyard International and Hengli Heavy is not the only shipowner saying that Chinese shipyards are irreplaceable in the near future. In response to media reports suggesting that major Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) would suspend orders for LNG carriers from China, the company said at the end of last month that it would consider both Chinese and South Korean shipyards. 'Taking the current geopolitical circumstances into account, the company will exercise prudent judgment in selecting shipyards for any new LNG carrier orders,' it said. 'There is only a limited number of shipyards in the world capable of building high-quality LNG carriers to provide stable LNG transportation, and Chinese shipyards are an important partner to ensure diversification and flexibility in procurement sources.' Geopolitical tensions have dampened new vessel orders this year. New orders for vessels with a compensated gross tonnage of 12.6 million were placed in the first four months of the year – down 48 per cent year on year – shipping data provider Clarksons Research said last week. China secured 54 per cent of those orders, followed by South Korea with 22 per cent. Recent US trade policies and global tariff actions had 'prompted our customers to adopt a wait-and-see approach, pushing back their ordering decisions', Ren Letian, the chairman of China's largest private shipbuilder, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, said when the Singapore-listed company released its first-quarter earnings late last month. By May 22, Yangzijiang had recorded US$290 million in new vessel orders this year – around 5 per cent of its annual target.
NZ Herald
24-04-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Auckland man claims Roofbuddy operates as ‘modern-day cowboy'
'I know that Roofbuddy checks all their roofing partners, so I was pretty confident they were all really good options,' he said in a YouTube marketing video. While his talent agent told the Herald Green is not involved in Roofbuddy operations, Green and his wife Matilda Green are listed as company shareholders. The company's website says it's a 'hassle free service' that connects customers with professional roofers with 'proven track records' and warns customers 'cowboys are always lurking'. However Fatherly told the Herald his attempt to get a new roof for his family home ended in a bitter legal dispute. An independent assessor has determined the workmanship of the contractor Roofbuddy recommended for Fatherly's job was so poor, the entire roof must be removed and replaced. 'It [Roofbuddy] is like a cowboy with a fancy website and some social media influencer on the front page to make it look pretty' he said. Kenian Fatherly said he signed up with Roofbuddy because the company says it performs safety checks on roofers, and because it claimed to use third-party quality assurance experts to check workmanship before signing off the job. Roof cladding has been poorly installed and not by a qualified roofing contractor or not supervised by one. Independent building survey An independent building surveyor who Fatherly engaged after being dissatisfied with the work on his re-roof issued a scathing report of the quality of the finished product. Among the defects found were visible deformities and indentations in the cladding, rust marks from metal debris being left on the roof, and incorrectly installed gutter fixings. 'The author is of the opinion that the roof cladding has been poorly installed and not by a qualified roofing contractor or was not supervised by one,' the report said. The report went on to recommend the roof be removed and replaced in its entirety. Fatherly told the Herald he took the contractor Trade Winds Limited to the Disputes Tribunal and won with the authority ordering the company to refund Fatherly $17,000 because the work was not carried out with reasonable care and skill. Since the ruling, Trade Winds owner Sandy Song has not made payment, and Fatherly says Roofbuddy has 'run for the hills'. 'The thing that really annoyed me the most with Roofbuddy is that it took no accountability.' Kenian Fatherly The Herald approached Song for comment but is yet to receive a response. Roofbuddy CEO James Logan said Trade Winds is highly experienced and had completed almost 100 other jobs on the Roofbuddy platform. 'Trade Winds is one of the largest and most capable roofing companies in New Zealand,' he told the Herald. Despite this Logan acknowledged there were problems with Fatherly's job, and its quality assurance expert identified 'a number of deficiencies'. Logan said he urged Trade Winds to fix the problems but said Fatherly then escalated matters by taking the case to the Disputes Tribunal. 'At all times Kenian had our full support in the matter.' Fatherly rejects the claim Roofbuddy was supportive, saying Logan stopped answering his phone calls. 'He washed hands of the whole thing altogether. To this day he still won't take my phone calls.' 'The thing that really annoyed me the most with Roofbuddy is that it took no accountability.' Fatherly was also critical of Roofbuddy's so-called third-party quality assurance checks on completed work saying there's a clear conflict of interest when their expert is an employee of Roofbuddy. 'A third party would be somebody who's not employed by the roofing contractor and not employed by Roofbuddy.' Logan maintains the company's quality assessors are independent but acknowledged they can and have made mistakes in the past and the company is focused on making improvements. 'An absolute nightmare' Tim Stewart who lives in Sydney told the Herald he faced a 'nightmare' 18 months dealing with RoofBuddy and the contractor it organised to work on his rental in Auckland's Titirangi. Roofbuddy was engaged to find a contractor to replace his roof in mid-2023, but Stewart said it took until late December last year before he had a roof that was watertight and compliant. He described the ordeal as an 'absolute nightmare'. Stewart said the roof on his rental was replaced and then signed off by RoofBuddy's quality assurance inspector. Despite this, in the weeks that followed, he said there were leaks which caused damage to the home's interior plasterboard and circuitry shorted because of water ingress. 'I went to the property and was horrified. I could see issues.' Tim Stewart Stewart then returned from Sydney to Auckland to inspect the work and said the poor workmanship was obvious. 'I went to the property and was horrified. I could see issues,' he told the Herald. He suspects the contractor engaged to do the work had minimal roofing experience. 'It was my layman's inspection which raised some red flags. I was like, hold on, this has been certified. How has this been certified when it looks like this.' He noticed damaged panels and said the roofing iron extended so far into the gutters he was barely able to get his hand inside to clear them of debris. Stewart then engaged his own independent roofers to inspect the work both of whom identified significant flaws. 'It was basically a s*** show,' he said. In the meantime, Stewart's tenants took him to the tenancy tribunal because of the leaks, rubbish being left strewn around the property by contractors, and ongoing disruptions from workers turning up unannounced at the property. 'I am completely in their [his tenants] camp. I think I would have done that same had it been me.' His tenants won their case at the tribunal, and he had to pay them $5000 in compensation. He said while RoofBuddy acted to remedy the issues he said he had to nag the company constantly for updates in an 'incredibly stressful' process that dragged out for months. 'It felt very much like a shirking of their [Roofbuddy's] responsibilities or unloading the responsibility to someone else.' In total, it took around 18 months before he had a roof that was watertight and compliant. He said he signed up with Roofbuddy because they secured the cheapest quote, but he wouldn't do it again. 'In hindsight, had I known the dramas, I would have been more than happy to fork out a bit more upfront and with the peace of mind.' Roofbuddy's CEO James Logan maintained the roofer contracted to work on Stewart's rental was experienced but did the job poorly, engaged in misleading conduct and then became uncontactable. 'Our degree of confidence in him was ultimately misplaced.' 'Quality assessors are subject to human error' James Logan Logan said the quality checks were completed and the roofer was asked to fix issues that had been identified. 'The roofer subsequently leveraged his personal relationship with our assessor and used a series of misleading photographs to falsely show the remedial actions were taken – so he could induce our send out of the QA [quality assurance] report and collect payment. Asked why Roofbuddy would sign off jobs when other experts had raised serious concerns, Logan said roofing is 'complex' and issues can be 'opaque'. Advertise with NZME. 'Quality assessors are subject to human error and have gone through an iterative improvement process of refinements; instructed by events such as Tim's installation,' he said. He said all roofers joining Roofbuddy must have 'appropriate trade qualifications' and be certified. 'I acknowledge that these requirements and the quality assurance assessments we conduct are an imperfect filter and subject to human and system error; they are also the most rigorous in the industry.'
Korea Herald
09-02-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Hanwha in talks for $1.2b LNG vessel deal with Germany's Hapag-Lloyd
Korean shipbuilding giant Hanwha Ocean is reportedly nearing a $1.2 billion deal with German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd to supply six dual-fuel container carriers powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). According to reports from Norway-based maritime news outlet TradeWinds and local media on Sunday, the deal is based on unfinalized orders placed by Hapag-Lloyd in 2021 with what was then Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, now Hanwha Ocean. In the suspended order, the world's fifth-largest shipper had requested the construction of six 16,800-ton LNG dual-fuel container carriers, with delivery scheduled by 2027 at an estimated cost of over $200 million per ship. The contract is expected to be finalized within February, though Hanwha Ocean has stated that no specific details have been confirmed yet. Meanwhile, there is speculation that Hapag-Lloyd might replace a potential order with Chinese shipbuilder Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group with this order to Hanwha Ocean, possibly de-risking from the escalating US-China trade war. The Chinese shipyard, located in Jiangsu, eastern China, had previously signed a contract with Hapag-Lloyd for 12 ships of the same type and size, leaving an option open to order six more units. However, the new order to Hanwha Ocean would eliminate the need for the anticipated additional order. The Korean shipbuilder has been ramping up marketing activities to global shippers since its merger with Korea's defense and aerospace comlerate Hanwha Group in 2023, offering competitive pricing and fast delivery times while focusing on eco-friendly LNG vessels.
CBC
30-01-2025
- Business
- CBC
Skilled trades program for Indigenous workers gets $5M as industry faces retirements 'in droves'
Getting more Indigenous people working in the skilled trades will help Canada achieve its housing goals, according to a news release from the federal government. It announced Wednesday it is giving $5 million over five years through the Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy to an Alberta-based non-profit that trains Indigenous people for jobs in the skilled trades. "This program absolutely works," said Starla Jacknife, a member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation who graduated from a Trade Winds to Success program in 2023. Jacknife said she was inspired to pursue work in carpentry after seeing an ad for the program featuring a series of women in ribbon skirts. Jacknife said the training she received through Trade Winds to Success prepared her for work by offering safety ticket training, tutoring in math and science and mock job interviews. "Every single day I get to learn something new, hone my skills, work with tools, listen to music, and make money," she said, after nearly two years in the field. About 63 per cent of people who begin work in the skilled trades in Alberta stay in the field after one year, according to Statistics Canada data from 2020. The Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy funds projects that support trades related to home building. "It's clear we need workers and we need them quickly," said Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Steven MacKinnon at a news conference in Edmonton Wednesday. "Construction workers with deep seated knowledge in the exact areas required to build up our country are retiring in droves. They're retiring quicker than we can get more new workers in." By 2033, 263,400 workers in construction — 21 per cent of the current labour force — are expected to retire, according to data from BuildForce Canada. The government of Alberta announced $1.5 million in funding over three years for Trade Winds in December 2024. Trade Winds for Success board member Chris Waples, who is also director of Local 488 Plumbers and Pipefitters Union, said this federal funding will allow Trade Winds to train 290 Indigenous workers in areas like carpentry, electrical work, pipe trades and welding. Waples said the training will have additional benefits in Indigenous communities. Trainees are expected to build 13 high-efficiency homes on First Nations and Metis Settlements in Alberta. "Education has the power to change the trajectory of a person's life and we have witnessed first hand the transformative impact our programs have on our students and their communities," Waples said.
